Staff

Pastor Jay Smith

Pastor Jay joined us at JPC, February 2013. Since that time we have been trying new things, finding new ways to serve the Lord, and growing.

Pastor Jay grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for both his M. DIV. and his D. MIN. Pastor Jay’s D. MIN. is entitled “Fight or Flight: Dealing with Difficult Churches”. He is overjoyed that JPC is NOT one of those churches! He has served churches in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Most recently he served Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church in Concord, North Carolina.

Pastor Jay and his wife Erin have three children, Joshua 13, Jordan 10, and Julia 7. Pastor Jay loves to run, ride mountain bikes, and read. Erin loves cats and dogs and one day hopes to open her own pet-sitting business.
We are all excited about our new Senior Pastor and look forward to the direction God is calling us!

Pastor Newton Cowan

Newton was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but raised in Greensboro. He is a life-long Presbyterian nurtured at First Presbyterian in Greensboro. He is an ordained Elder. After graduating from Guilford College with a degree in Economics, he worked in sales for a number of years before finally stopping and listening to God’s voice calling him to a change in direction.

In 2006 Newton began his seminary journey, traveling back and forth to Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte on the weekends for five and a half years, while continuing to serve the church. Newton graduated from seminary in April of 2012.

During Newton’s ministry, he has served as Director of Adult Education at First Presbyterian in Greensboro as well as a year and a half as a non-ordained solo supply pastor for Pine Hall Presbyterian in Stokes County. Newton began his work at JPC in December of 2011 as Director of Christian Education and assisting in pastoral care.

Newton and his wife Carrie have 2 daughters, Mary Mac and Ellie. He enjoys reading, mostly theology, and playing golf, but his joy is watching his daughters play field hockey and soccer.

Scott Brown

Scott Brown has joined the staff of Jamestown Presbyterian Church as the Director of Youth Ministry. Scott is a graduate of Presbyterian College, where he studied religion, christian education and psychology. Scott has been in professional youth ministry for the last 15 years, serving three different congregations during that time. In addition to working in local churches, Scott has been involved in youth ministry on the national level providing music and recreation leadership for the Montreat Youth Conferences and serving on the National Presbyterian Youth Ministry Council. Recently, Scott has ventured into group facilitating and ropes courses with TeamQUEST, an organization through UNCG. When not working, Scott enjoys spending time with his family (Margaret, Noah, Zachary and Henry) and feeding his creative side, either through music or art.

Sammie Braxton

Sammie Braxton is a long-time church educator, having served at Oak Ridge Presbyterian for the past 10 years and at First Presbyterian in High Point for 16 years before that. Sammie and her husband, Steve, came to High Point in 1972 when Sammie became the Director of the Child Development Center at First Baptist Church in High Point. Sammie and Steve have four grown children and three grandsons who are age five and under. Steve is mostly retired but still serves Trinity Presbyterian Church in Elon on Sundays and Wednesday evenings. Sammie and Steve love to travel and continue to participate in mission trips, especially in South Africa. Sammie loves yoga, walking three miles every day, playing with her grandchildren, reading, and cooking family recipes.

Jen McNamara

Jen was born and raised in New York and moved to North Carolina in 2000 with her husband. Even though she is a northerner, NC is truly home. Jen graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in Criminal Justice, and she worked as a paralegal in both NY and NC prior to becoming a stay at home mom when her first child was born. She joined the wonderful staff here at Jamestown Presbyterian Church 12 years later. Her son attended the preschool here for three years, and she is just thrilled to be back at JPC!

Jen loves all things Disney, enjoys traveling and spending time with her family, watching her daughter dance and play softball, watching her son play soccer and she also enjoys reading.

Jon Brotherton

Jon was born in and grew up in Alaska. He received the B.A. degree in vocal performance from George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon and the M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in choral music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. While working on the M.M. degree he met his future wife, Donna (guess where) in choir class. The Brotherton family came to Greensboro in 1998 and began music ministry at JPC in the fall of 2000.

Jon is also the Associate Chair of the department of music at Greensboro College, the director of the annual North Carolina United Methodist All-State Youth Choir and the director of the 120 voice Choral Society of Greensboro.

The Brothertons have four children; Kayla, Matthew, Michael and Nicholas.

Donna Brotherton

Donna grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. She began singing and playing for her church at an early age and attended the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she received her B.M. in Vocal Performance (and incidentally, where she met her future husband, Jon).

For several years Donna taught private voice and piano lessons and Kindermusik classes for various organizations including the preschool at JPC. In 2005 she began teaching choral music at Weaver Academy in Greensboro and recently earned her Master of Music Education degree from Shenandoah University Conservatory of Music. Donna and Jon began music ministry at JPC in the fall of 2000.

The Brothertons have four children; Kayla, one of the JPC nursery attendants and a sophomore at Greensboro College majoring in vocal performance, Matthew, one of the guitar players for Decided and a senior at Weaver Academy, Michael, one of the trumpet players for Decided and a sophomore at Northwest Guilford High School, and Nicholas, who is in 8th grade and a master of computer games.

Chris Henry

Chris grew up on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. He was always active in church and in the band at school as well as other community events. Chris is currently in his 11th year teaching band at Northeast Guilford Middle School. He has played professionally with local groups such as West End Mambo and the Greensboro Big Band, and he plays weekly at Jamestown Presbyterian Church for their contemporary praise and worship service. On top of being a part of the worship team and assistant chancel choir director, Chris composes many of the songs for Decided “the JPC Praise Band” and arranges the horn parts for other songs that Decided plays. Chris has been with Decided since its inception in July 2000.

Tara Daniel

A native of North Carolina, Tara holds a computer science degree from Appalachian State University. Tara and her husband, Mike, joined JPC in 1996. They have two children, Andrew and Jessica. Outside of her financial office duties, you might find Tara on the tennis courts.

Joan Aydelette

Joan Aydelette has joined the staff of Jamestown Presbyterian Church as our Preschool Director. Joan has been involved in education for much of her life. Her degree is from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in early childhood education. After moving back to Greensboro in 1989 Joan took a break from teaching and was a stay at home mom for 5 years. She began her pre school work in 2001 first at Guilford Park Presbyterian for 6 years and then was the Director and teacher at Oak Ridge Presbyterian Church until she was called to be our new leader. Joan and her husband Erick have been married for 23 years and are the parents of 2 boys ages 19 and 15. She has been a Den leader and committee chair in both Cub and Boy Scouts. She enjoys reading, cooking and hanging out with the family. She is a member of St. Pius the Tenth.

Wendy Burns

Detroit, Michigan was my place of birth, then I moved to south Florida. I grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. I studied Fine Art and Marine Biology at FAU. I married Larry in 1984. My favorite activities are fishing and photography! I am blessed to have two beautiful daughters who reside in Charlotte,NC.

I have been part of the staff at JPC since 1996, teaching a 4 yr. old preschool class for 11 yrs. and the Director of the After-School Program.

Children are our future, I feel so blessed the church provides a fun, safe place for them to flourish and be enriched in a Christian community.

Christine Chiou

Christine, a native of Taiwan, has served as organist and pianist at Jamestown Presbyterian Church since 1998.

She received her original training at Taipei Municipal Junior Teachers College and at the National Taiwan Normal University. With a background in music education, she counts among her accomplishments five years as a teacher in the Taiwan school system.

In 1985, Christine immigrated to the United Sates. She earned a B.S. degree in Accounting and Information Systems, a B.M. degree and a M.M. degree in Piano Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

She has been married to Ken since 1983, and they have one young adult son, David.